Despite a long list of injuries in the first team squad, there remains a hefty number of players called up for international duty over the next two weeks.

England have two World Cup qualifiers that will be expected to yield six points, at home to Kazakhstan on Saturday and then away to Belarus next Wednesday. There are four Chelsea men involved, after Joe Cole missed out through injury.

They are left-backs Wayne Bridge and Ashley Cole, centre-half and captain John Terry and midfielder Frank Lampard, who between them have 197 England caps to date.

Also included in Fabio Capello's squad are former Blues Glen Johnson and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Michael Ballack, now fully fit after injuries hampered the beginning of his season, will captain Germany in two home games against Russia and Wales

With Ricardo Carvalho definitely ruled out through injury, there are three Portuguese players in their squad that travels to Sweden before entertaining Albania in nine days' time. They are José Bosingwa,  Paulo Ferreira and Deco, the latter will be tested on his fitness having been missing with injury.

The French pairing of Nicolas Anelka, who was withdrawn against Aston Villa yesterday with a knock, and the impressive Florent Malouda are both in Raymond Domenech's squad. Like Deco, Anelka will be assessed when he meets up with the national team medical staff.

They travel to Romania for a qualifying game at the weekend, and then host Tunisia in a friendly on Tuesday.

Branislav Ivanovic, who performed so admirably on Sunday in his Premier League debut, is in line to appear for Serbia as they entertain Lithuania before heading to Austria.

Petr Cech, a shoo-in for the Czechs in goal, has two tricky ties, first away in Poland and then a home tie with Slovenia on Wednesday.

In Africa, John Mikel Obi will be in World Cup action for Nigeria, hosting Sierra Leone on Saturday in Abuja. Salomon Kalou is in the Ivory Coast group that plays Madagascar in Abidjan on the same day.

Alex has been named in the Brazil squad that has an away game in Venezuela before a home fixture with Colombia in Rio. They will need to improve their recent form to get their campaign back on track, but cannot guarantee the Chelsea man will be available, he too needs looking at before being given the all-clear to participate.

There are also numerous Blues named in junior international squads, with three possibly coming head-to-head at Under 21 level this week.

On Friday, Wales and England play off to decide who will qualify for Euro 2009, and goalkeeper Rhys Taylor (Wales) and defenders Michael Mancienne and Ryan Bertrand (England) are in their respective squads.

The two-legged affair begins at Cardiff City's Ninian Park home on Friday, and the second leg will be on Tuesday 14 October at Villa Park.

On that Tuesday, on-loan winger Fabio Paim is line to appear for Portugal Under 21s as they meet Ukraine.

Under 19 football is also on the Chelsea agenda this week, with three games for England in six days.

Jacob Mellis has been named in the squad as Brian Eastick's team play Albania, Northern Ireland and Serbia in European Championship qualifying, all games taking place in Northern Ireland.

First year scholar Jeffrey Bruma is in the Dutch Under 19 squad that will face Lithuania, Luxembourg and Germany in the same competition. Those games are to be played in Germany and Luxembourg.

Finally, Marko Mitrovic, still a schoolboy, is named in the Sweden Under 17 group for their European Championship qualifiers in Croatia. There they face the Croats, along with Serbia and Moldova.